Jayhawk Women Move Up to Eighth in National Rankings

<?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>LAWRENCE, Kan. – Coming off their best performance in Women’s Big 12 Championship history, the University of Kansas women’s track and field team moved up two spots to rank eighth in the USTFCCCA national rankings released on Wednesday. The men jumped past four teams this week and are now 24th in the country. <?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>

Head Coach Stanley Redwine and the Jayhawks are one of 13 schools in Division I to have both their men’s and women’s teams in the top 25 and are just one of three Big 12 schools to accomplish the feat.

Propelling the Jayhawks up the women’s rankings were Big 12 champions seniors Kate Sultanova and Crystal Manning and junior Nickesha Anderson. The women’s third-place finish in the team standings was their highest since the inception of the conference.

Manning was the high-point scorer at the meet after she won the Big 12 title in the long jump and triple jump and helped the 1,600-meter relay team to the second-fastest time in school history. Sultanova became the first Jayhawk to win back-to-back pole vault championships and Anderson was KU’s first 60-meter dash champion.

Senior Egor Agafonov became the first athlete in Kansas track and field’s 108-year history to win the weight throw conference trophy for three consecutive years. The Togliatti, Russia, native was victorious with an NCAA-leading toss of 22.67 meters (74-04 ft.), while sophomore Jordan Scott helped Kansas sweep the pole vault with his second-consecutive victory in the event.

Next up for Kansas is the Iowa State Invite on Saturday, March 8. It will be the last chance for the Jayhawks to qualify or improve their marks before the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., March 14-15.

About the USTFCCCA RankingsThe 2008 USTFCCCA Rankings for NCAA Division I squads were devised and are compiled by Tom Lewis of the University of Missouri. Each team is assigned “power points” based on each individual performance on the official NCAA-qualifying list. For the indoor season, spots one through 35 in each event on the national-descending order list receive points based on its position in the national rankings. Additional power points are assigned to each performance based on comparisons with the rest of the field in that event.

Rankings for the indoor season are released each Wednesday. A complete rundown of the ranking method and a team-by-team breakdown can be found at ustfccca.org.